


Like Blood, Like Honey

by bannanachan



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, F/F, Gen, Illustrated, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-21 05:35:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6040204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bannanachan/pseuds/bannanachan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was a Christmas present for a dear friend, who requested complicated Rose/Dave/Kanaya/Karkat feelings. I intended to write it as a one-shot but I had so much fun writing it that I plan to actually write some more, just maybe once I finish the other two WIPs in my fan fiction folder. Whoops.</p><p>The person I wrote this for, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/hollyredwinter/">Holly</a>, also illustrated it, because she is an amazing beautiful talented human being who deserves lots of snacks. It would be super of you to check out her other work.</p><p>Thank you to <a href="otomatonom.tumblr.com">Ota</a> and <a href="blooper-boy.tumblr.com">blooper-boy</a> for betaing once again.</p><p>Title is from "Like Blood, Like Honey" by Holly Brook.</p></blockquote>





	Like Blood, Like Honey

It’s not like you didn’t know that she was drinking. It was just that you were _busy._ Like that made it any better at all. Oh, yeah, you did notice your sister turning into a raging alcoholic, you just didn’t intervene because you were too busy. Not that it wasn’t true. You did think about Rose back then, you just thought about her in between bouts of thinking about your brother, the multiple enemies trying to kill you, the unbeatable enemy you were supposed to be killing, and, of course, your maybe-sort-of-boyfriend.

Which also just leads back to Rose because it is seriously not fair how easy she makes it look. No panicking about her sexual orientation, no tense discussions with her partner, just one day she had an alien girlfriend and it was all good. You were happy for her, but it made you jealous as hell.

So yeah, you aren’t thinking that much about Rose when she sits down in front of you in the kitchen one day at breakfast and says “I haven’t had a drink in two weeks.”

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/151948869@N02/36779680661/in/dateposted-public/)

You look up from your plate of… something (alchemizing food was hard sometimes) and put down your fork. “Uh. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” Says Rose. “Would you mind making me coffee? I would do it myself, but I’d like to avoid slipping up and pouring whiskey in.”

You make two cups. You have a sense you might need it.

You sit in front of her and handed her a mug.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

You sip your drink, regret your decision, and slide the mug a few feet away on the counter. Rose laughs. You look at her and smile back, and then, for some reason, feel guilty.

“So… how’s that going, anyway?”

“What?”

“Sobriety?”

She shrugs. “It is. Last week wasn’t, but I would rather not go into that. Now, I’m mostly trying to keep busy. You’re getting a knitted sweater for Christmas for the next eternity, by the way. Assuming that both we and Christmas still exist.” She pauses, picked up her mug, then putting it down. “You know, I don’t think you’ve ever asked me about it before.”

“I, um. Haven’t.”

She nods. Her expression doesn’t change.

“Sorry.” You say abruptly.

For a few seconds, you both sit there silently. You can tell she’s looking at you, but you don’t look back.

“Thank you.” She says finally. You wait to see if she’s going to say anything else, but she doesn’t. You hesitate.

“Is there… something I can do?” You ask.

“You can keep an eye on me.” She says. “You can keep an eye on Vriska keeping an eye on me, because she sometimes doesn’t know when to quit. Honestly, just… hanging out with me once in a while? It’s nice to have a distraction.” She pauses. “And I miss you.”

“You see me all the time.” You say, but it’s hollow, and the look she gives you in response made it clear she doesn’t buy it any more than you do.

“I dunno, Rose.” You say. “Would’ve thought shit couldn’t throw me any more after the game, but when shit just keeps happening…” You trailed off.

“You couldn’t have done anything.” She says. “I don’t think anyone could have. Actually, no, I don’t _think_ , I know.” She taps her cowl and gives a wry smile. “Though if self-flagellation is soul-soothing for you, by all means. I would hate to get in the way of yet another way to hate yourself.”

You frown. “Thank you?”

“You’re welcome. Do you mind accompanying me back to my room, for a start? I want to get my knitting.”

You pause. You’re supposed to be watching a movie with Karkat in like thirty minutes.

You decide he probably wouldn’t mind if you cancel just this once.

“Sure.”

When you get to her door, Vriska is waiting, her arms crossed derisively as she guards the entrance. Her posture slackens a bit when she sees you approach. She seems pleasantly surprised.

Rose is unfazed. “Hello, Vriska.”

“Yeah.” Vriska says, and immediately turns her attention to you. “Hey, Dave. Have you been with her all morning?”

You frown. “For like… half an hour?”

Vriska scowls. “Ugh. Well, close enough. You haven’t seen her drinking?”

“I made her coffee.” You replied blankly.

Vriska shrugs. “Close enough. Listen, Strider, as long as you’re coming out of the woodwork, could you keep an eye on her for the next couple hours? I can’t find Kanaya anywhere and Terezi and I have a date that I’ve already had to cancel once to babysit your grubmate, so I’d appreciate some backup.”

“We know you know the word sister, Vriska. It’s okay.” Rose chimes in.

“Whatever. Look, are you in, or not?”

You frown. “… yes?”

“Sweet. All right, Lalonde, I’ll check on you later. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Vriska nods and exits the doorway, sprouting blue wings from her back as she floats off down the hall. Rose stares after her and shakes her head. “I wonder if she knows she doesn’t even need those things to fly.”

“Has she been following you _everywhere?_ ” You ask.

“She keeps losing me in the dream bubbles.” Rose replies. “But mostly. Not this whole time, mind you. She let Kanaya deal with it for the first six or seven days. The part I told you I didn’t want to talk about? But since then I’ve been feeling a little better. She doesn’t want a repeat of last time, I guess.”

You blink. “There was a last time?”

“Mmmm.” Rose opens the door to her room, and you nearly trip over your cape in your rush to follow after. “I made it almost a month, that time.”

You feel like your stomach is dropping out of you. You do not, obviously, let her know. You lean against her dresser in something approximating a casual posture. “Huh. When?”

“About 12 weeks ago.” She shuffles through a pile on her floor, tossing half-finished projects attached to mismatched needles aside – you see a Thorn of Oglogoth roll halfway across the room and automatically flinch away. “Last time, when Vriska noticed, she dumped all of the alcohol on the meteor into a dream bubble ocean. Well, all of it that she knew about. Thus the only lasting a month.”

“Oh.” You say. “That’s, uh. Sorry.”

“Mmm.” Rose says, and you’re starting to get really freaked out by how often she’s responding to you with mumbling instead of words, because words are Rose’s thing, right? “Do you prefer red?”

“What?”

“For the sweater.” She looks over her shoulder at you. “I mean, I don’t want to assume, just because you’re wearing the same shirt you haven’t washed for the last two years, that it’s your preferred color.”

You look down at the ball of yarn Rose is holding and frown. “Actually, I’m not sure if I can change clothes.”

“Join the club. Call it a pipe dream.” She says, and tucks the yarn into a squiddle bag. “I mean, I’m not strictly sure Christmas exists either. I suppose I could give it to you for twelfth parrot’s eve or… whatever it’s called.”

“Do trolls have parrots? I mean, if they did, wouldn’t they be like… squalkie-talkie wing beasts or something?”

She smiles and stands up. “Perhaps we should ask a troll. They do seem to be in abundance around here.”

She walks into the hall and you stumble after, tripping over your cape again. “So, um. Where are we going?”

“I suppose that’s up to you.” She says, without turning. “I for one was planning on going to the library to work on this for a while. But you did already accompany me as far as my room, and I believe that you had something planned in the next couple of hours. Forgive me for butting in, but it’s been difficult to miss the construction paper signs surrounding the TV room with ‘Dave and Karkat’s movie party keep out’ scrawled in large red letters that show up once a day.” She stops then, and turns to look at you. “You don’t really have to follow me all day, Dave. I meant it, about appreciating the company, but if there’s something else you need to do…”

You blush – hard – at the mention of Karkat, and fumble for a response. She laughs quietly as you open and close your mouth like a fish.

“Don’t worry about it, Dave. Really. You’re not responsible for me.”

Which makes you pause, and it stops your blushing, too.

“Yeah, no, but I kind of am?”

Rose stops, surprised. You keep talking. “I mean, you’re right – like, you’re definitely right, I couldn’t have stopped you. No one could have stopped you, it’s not my fault, but that’s different – it’s different from being responsible. Responsible is being the guy who saved your life a few times, and also your goddamn brother, and the only one on the meteor who had any conception of what alcohol was until recently so – I am responsible, Rose.”

She doesn’t say anything and you suddenly realize how long you’ve been talking. “Um. Sorry.”

“I – no, it’s fine.” She says, and you ignore the tears you see her wipe away because hey, she’d do the same for you.

“Do you. Want to go watch a movie?” You ask.

“Yeah.” She says. “I think I do.”

You and Rose are arguing about troll Sarah Jessica Parker’s acting abilities in “A theatrical interpretation of concupiscence and the hiveblock wherein four promiscuous female trolls indulge excessively in soporific substances and pointless clothing excesses: featuring three obligation sacraments, several tie dissolvings, one legislacerator, an appearance by a grub member of the tribe of lost weeaboos, comedy regarding the use of an ablution chamber, and a public beheading” when Karkat walks in. You freeze, and Rose pauses the movie for you.

“Karkat.” You say, like saying his name is a valid conversation starter.

“Dave.” He says, in turn. “How, um. What’s happening?”

“Movie.” You say, and feel like an absolute idiot.

Rose smiles neutrally. “Troll Miranda’s kismesis is trying to reconcile with her, but troll Michelle is stepping in to try to auspiticize out of concern, even though her true feelings are clearly of the pale variety. But I think troll Carrie and Mr. Big are really going to make it.”

Karkat rolls his eyes, obviously unimpressed. “Psh. He’s too good for her, anyway. That kind of flushed devotion is the sort of thing you hold in reserve for the right person, and she clearly still has feelings for her previous matesprit.”

“Oh, bull.” Rose insists, waving the remote around idly. “He hasn’t come around for her in ten years, why would she still harbor feelings for him? Besides, he was way too low on the hemospectrum. It would never have worked out.”

“Okay, one, racist. Two, I don’t know what your ludicrous human customs are, but on Alternia three sweeps is like, standard mission length for most military excursions, and if she’s too impatient to wait that long then she’s clearly not ready for any kind of committed relationship. God, you people are so fickle.” He says, and on the last word he glances towards you, and it’s suddenly a lot easier to stop yourself from giggling.

“Have you seen Vriska?” Rose asks, changing the subject with the elegance of a very fancy brick.

“No.” He says. “What, starting to miss her following you? Or did you just find a body?”

“Only a scalemate’s.” Rose responds, which is true, but you’re way too busy being thrown by the fact that Karkat knew Vriska was following Rose around before you did to nod. “She did say she’d be with Terezi for the next couple hours. Regardless, if you spot her, would you mind informing her of my whereabouts? I’d hate for her paranoia to interrupt date night.”

“Oh, so I’m just meteor messenger boy now?” He asks indignantly.

“It’s just a request.”

He scowls, but nods. “Fine. Don’t say I never did anything nice for you.”

“Well, you could also stay, if you like.” She adds, a little too hastily, and it takes all you have not to shove your hand in your face. “No spoilers, though. I haven’t even seen the human version of this one.”

Karkat shifts awkwardly on his feet. “Nah, I… I saw it last week already, it’s cool. Have fun with date night.”

Rose’s jaw drops and you are speaking – yelling – before you quite know it. “Holy fuck Karkat _this is not date night._ ”

He frowns. “But she said –”

“Terezi!” Rose shouts, and she’s buried her face in her hands. “I was talking about Terezi and Vriska! Oh my God, it has been two years, how do you not get this already?”

Karkat rolls his eyes. “Okay! It’s not date night, whatever, fine.” He turns his attention to his shoes. “Look, I’ve got places to be. I’ll see you both later.”

You know damn well that Karkat does not have any places to be, but you let him walk out the door anyway. You don’t feel like there’s much else you can do.

Rose looks over at you, obviously slightly concerned. “Are you…”

You sigh. “Just… play the movie, okay?”

She hits play. About thirty seconds afterwards, you feel a dream bubble break over the side of your arm, enveloping the meteor and the both of you in it. You decide, however, that you don’t feel quite like exploring.

***

Your name is Kanaya Maryam, and being unable to find your girlfriend all morning has been quite stressful enough without getting lost in a dream bubble and then stuck in a cave having tea with fifty goddamn Nepetas, but here you are.

“Would you like some more chamomeowle tea meow Kanaya?” asks a Nepeta. You are pretty sure that Nepeta did not say the word meow half as much as these Nepetas are doing when she was alive. You suspect they are in the kind of positive feedback loop that one might easily get locked in when spending eternity drinking tea in a cave and occasionally kidnapping dead Karkats. It is exactly the kind of positive feedback loop you would strongly prefer not to enter into, so you are set fairly firmly on finding a way out sooner rather than later, though the meteor will probably be out of this particular bubble within the next hour at most.

“I’m fine for now, thank you.” You say, scanning the cave walls for any sign of some stupid puzzle mechanic that might get you out of here. “Tell me, which one of you is the newest here?”

“Oh, that would be meow!” Says a Nepeta a few yards down the table from you. “Why do you ask?”

“Just wondering how you found your way here.” You respond, making your voice innocent as possible.

“Oh, that’s a long story!” She replies, and sets her teacup down while the other Nepetas lean in to listen. “You see, in the timeline I was from, Gamzee snapped much earlier, and…”

You are about to stand up and make a break for it while they are still distracted when a Meulin comes storming around a corner that wasn’t even there a second ago and frantically signing that a Karkat has been spotted outside, at which point all of the Nepetas begin simultaneously meowing as they rise from their seats. Being a rainbow drinker has its advantages – you hop to your feet five times faster than the crowd and follow around the newly-appeared corner before any of them notice you are gone. You are surprised on the other side by not just any Karkat, but _your_ Karkat – the living Karkat – stalking moodily along the coastline which you both suddenly stand on.

“Oh. Kanaya.” He remarks. “Hey. What brings you here?”

You look between him and the cave – still behind you – and decide that it is probably more important to keep your Karkat living than answer his question.

You pick him up and run.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/151948869@N02/36522999540/in/dateposted-public/)

Several seconds later, you have successfully cleared the beach and arrived in an area simultaneously resembling Prospit and the Land of Light and Rain. You tune your brightness down as you set your friend on the ground to avoid blinding him any further, though you are privately rather pleased at this development.

“Jegus, Kanaya.” He spits, getting his bearings as he sets his feet down. “Could you give a guy some warning next time?”

“There were fifty Nepetas.” You respond blankly.

Karkat looks back at you equally blankly in response. “What the fuck?”

You shrug, and he shakes his head. “Wow, okay. Remind me to bring a sickle to the next one of these.”

“I’m not actually sure that would do very much.” You respond. “Injuring the dead sounds rather tricky.”

He gives you a kind of disgusted look and leans back in his chair. “Look, we wouldn’t even be having this problem if you had been doing your job.”

You frown. “What job?”

“Uh, dream bubble watch?” He gestures furiously with his right hand at the surrounding air. “It’s right there on the community calendar, Kanaya! It’s a volunteer position! I mean really, if you can’t keep your commitment, it’s just better for all of us if you come out with it and let us know so someone else can take the spot.”

“Oh. Sorry.” You reply.

He squints and looks up at you. “What was going on this morning anyway?”

“I was trying to find Rose.”

He groans. “Is everyone on this meteor looking for that one flighty broad? She’s with Dave, okay, they’re watching a movie.”

“Oh.” You say, for perhaps the fifth time in sixty seconds. “Is she. Er.”

“Drunk?” He asks, and you would have blushed, if you blushed any more. “No, she’s not. They were just… hanging out, I think. Anyway, you have nothing to worry about, other than her cheating on you with her brother, which… I don’t think is happening? They got pretty weird about it when I mentioned it. Humans always get weird about that stuff, it’s so dumb.” He pauses. “I mean, you have some things to worry about, since our last friend who got addicted to soporifics started murdering people and got locked in a hunger trunk by a spider bitch. But I guess Rose’s thing is different somehow?”

“It is.” You assure him. (You actually asked Rose about it, the first time she got sober, and she promised you it was fine, so you know it’s true.) “But it’s still really bad for her.” You add hastily.

“I got that, yeah.” He says, and then you both fall silent. He fidget in his chair for a moment before standing up and beginning to pace, small circles dug into plush golden carpets.

The suspense is starting to kill you, so you decide to speak up. “Karkat?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He responds. He paces another four circles, stops in his tracks, tosses his head back, and half-screams, half-groans out loud for a second, then turns to look right at you.

“Kanaya. When did we stop talking?”

You feel like your heart just stops then. But of course, your heart stopped a long time ago.

“I don’t really think there was a specific time.” You reply, quite honestly.

“Yeah.” He says. “You’re probably right.”

“Would it help at all if I apologized?” You asked.

He groans, collapsing back in the chair. You feel awkward standing above him, so you think about the hammock from your old hiveblock and sit down in it when it appears under you. “Yeah, I don’t really think so. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

You frown. “But –”

“She’s your matesprit, Kanaya. I’m not actually that clueless, no matter what it looks like. Plus all that crap with our ancestors, and… whatever it was, that Terezi did… we were all kind of busy.” He pauses for a second, gives you an odd look. “Fuck, Kanaya. You realize, out of all my best friends, you’re the only one who hasn’t up and left me? I mean, on the upside, I guess I really only have one now. Which is the way that it’s supposed to work anyway, right? And to think, all it took to get me there was the death of half my species and the obliteration of all hope of genetic survival.”

Which must leave you looking pretty devastated – or maybe angry – because he turns pale immediately afterwards, looking down at the floor. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” You say. “It doesn’t hurt any more coming from you, believe me. And I’m not going to leave it at that, so it doesn’t matter anyway, there’s nothing to be sorry about as long as I can fix it.”

He looks up, and looks you in the eyes. “Can you? Really.”

“Yes.” You say, without hesitation.

He sighs. “Okay. Well, sorry for flying off the handle like a cretinous jerk, how’s that.”

“That should be fine.” You say.

He stands up from the chair, dusting off his pants. “Thanks, by the way.” He adds, looking at you slightly sideways. “For sticking around.”

Your mood mellows slightly, looking over at him. “While I may only be alive due to a technicality at this point, Karkat, I do not intend to quit this thing until I am truly well and gone, and perhaps not even then.”

He blinks. “So don’t worry about it?”

“Don’t worry about it.” You reiterate.

He nods, and you start walking down the beach together amicably.

“Hey, so, do you actually know what it is about the phrase ‘date night’ that bothered them so much?”

“Why don’t you ask your boyfriend, dear.”

You make it back to the meteor with time to spare before it pops out the edge of the bubble, dodging a few Nepetas on the way. Rose and Dave are still in the living room when you arrive, watching the credits roll. Also, bickering.

“Bullshit. No way.”

“Listen, Dave, when a seer tells you something was confirmed, that means it isn’t up for debate.”

“Okay, but you said filming hadn’t started yet. So, yeah, debate. Debating. They did not make a sequel to Sex and the City.”

“Well, obviously they didn’t, we destroyed the earth. But if we hadn’t –”

“Like – over half of them had gotten married at the end! What’s the point?! What, do they just kill all their matesprits off screen between the movies?”

“Dave, I am frankly offended that you think the Sex and the City franchise is all about the girls' romantic partners, when the grounding dynamic for the entire television show was clearly the close female friendship between the four main characters, and I would strongly encourage you to further investigate the internal prejudices that have led you to this conclusion. Also, the appalling level of cultural insensitivity with which you suggest that the girls have no need to pursue further romantic relationships when each of them has filled at most 3 quadrants total.”

“Actually, the Alternian TV version was pretty exclusively about the romance.” Karkat pipes up. “They let those quadrant relationships get pretty complicated. Like, even for me, so you know that was some bugwinged nonsense.”

Dave jumps almost imperceptibly at the sound of Karkat’s voice, turning his attention away from his sister. “Oh. Hey. When did you guys get here?”

“Only recently.” You reply, meandering over to the couch. “We got lost in the bubble temporarily.” You turn your attention to Rose, who is sitting next to her brother and directing her attention deliberately towards the scrolling credits. “How are you?” You ask cautiously.

“Fine.” She says stiffly. You glance at her hands and they’re still shaking, but less than they were earlier. You wonder if Dave has noticed. At least the rudeness has stopped bothering you, and at the very least, it’s not yelling.

She turns her attention towards Karkat, her tone improving a marked degree. “Did you see Vriska?”

“We were lost in a dream bubble.” He reiterates. “So, yes, but no. I’m guessing she and Terezi stayed where they were, wherever that is. Or we’ve lost them permanently to the void at this point.” He shrugs, managing somehow to make it look sarcastic. “Who can say!”

“Odd.” Rose says idly. “She said she’d be back by now. I wonder what they’re getting up to.”

“Oh, I don’t!” Karkat declares, overly enthusiastic. “Seriously, though, we should probably just leave those looneyweasels on their own? Rather than interrupt them and get stabbed on accident.”

Rose nods. “Sounds good to me. Do you, um. Mind if I stick around for now, then? I know you and Dave usually prefer to have the space to yourselves.”

Dave turns the color of his shirt almost immediately, and you look between his expression and Karkat’s as Karkat looks between Rose, Dave, and you warily. Finally, he sighs. “Fine. Just… for the day. Hey, Kanaya, you sticking around too?”

You try not to look too obviously relieved. “I suppose I might as well. What else is on the movie list?”

Some of Dave’s discomfort fades and he relaxes back into the couch. “Oh, well, you should probably ask Karkat. He’s usually the movie master here.”

“I wouldn’t say master? More like connoisseur. Anyway, it depends on your genre choice. Obviously most of my stock here is romcoms but there are definitely classier choices out there than this literal bull crap. For example…”

Which is followed by at least five minutes of reciting titles that take at least thirty seconds each to recite, and ends with inserting a DVD of “A story about a grub born with a strange disease that causes him to age in reverse, told in the format of a diary entry read out loud to the troll male’s matesprit by their descendant several hundred years after the fact, in which the he participates in multiple glorious war events and dashing heroics and has an affair with the young troll heiress while his matesprit engages in artistic pursuits on Alternia, featuring romantic elements side-by-side with true historical events of educational value:”

Which is just the title, the subtitle is actually longer. Which is exactly why you never got interested in Alternian cinema, although the movie’s not so bad. It’s putting Rose to sleep on top of you, which is a huge plus as far as you’re concerned, and even more of one because you think it’s genuinely restful. Comfortable sleep, at least of the sober variety, is hard for her to come by these days. Dave and Karkat are less comfortable, separated by an awkward inch of space and longing glances. You will have to find a way to thank them both for this later, preferably without them knowing it, since you doubt they would appreciate it. You will have to find a way to apologize later too. For now, though, you are going to sit here and enjoy the peace and quiet for however long it lasts.

Which, with Terezi and Vriska hiding out mysteriously somewhere in the meteor, probably won’t be long.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/151948869@N02/36779679911/in/dateposted-public/)

**Author's Note:**

> This was a Christmas present for a dear friend, who requested complicated Rose/Dave/Kanaya/Karkat feelings. I intended to write it as a one-shot but I had so much fun writing it that I plan to actually write some more, just maybe once I finish the other two WIPs in my fan fiction folder. Whoops.
> 
> The person I wrote this for, [Holly](https://www.instagram.com/hollyredwinter/), also illustrated it, because she is an amazing beautiful talented human being who deserves lots of snacks. It would be super of you to check out her other work.
> 
> Thank you to [Ota](otomatonom.tumblr.com) and [blooper-boy](blooper-boy.tumblr.com) for betaing once again.
> 
> Title is from "Like Blood, Like Honey" by Holly Brook.


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